Rita's Ramblings: a basically house-bound woman in Fargo, North Dakota blogging for friends, family, and anybody who finds it interesting. I talk about art or craft projects, my grandson (Ian), the weather, movies, books, health, and whatever happens to be going on in my life. Welcome!

Friday, August 29, 2014

When it's been nice out, Karma and I have spent a lot of time by the open windows.

Karma is endlessly fascinated watching people on Cat TV.

There are trucks and activity most of the time now behind our garages and off in the distance in the field. Building. Building. Building. There are finally people living in that new apartment building across the road I noticed this month.

Been pretty quiet here.

I have been emptying my desk and paring down files. Leah dropped off more brown duck cloth (didn't get enough) and some "ultra-firm stabilizer" for the diaper tote. All the fabric has been washed and I drug out and dusted off the ironing board and iron--LOL! Ready to iron today and start marking off all the pieces to cut. I actually made up blueberry crumble bars, too.

I am up, clean, combed, and dressed early this morning because some time during the day (8am-6pm) the new desk is supposed to arrive! I made room for the big box to wait against the wall in the entryway until the old desk is taken apart and given away. :)

Not only was it $70 off on sale but I happened to get an email with a $20 off code if you spent over $125 online and the code worked! I saved $90.00!!! Whoohoo! I took that as a sign that the universe is opening doors. ;)

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The most exciting news, though, is that I called and left a message with my new federal housing worker Monday asking her if I am on the waiting list and if she could find out where I am on the list. Well, Tuesday I got a call from the lady who is actually working on the waiting list for North Sky and she was just the sweetest lady! We had a nice long chat and she was soooo nice! She was just starting to enter names and said there must be 75-100 applicants already and only 24 apartments total are available in this first building that's opening in Oct/Nov and 30 more opening next fall. The third building doesn't even have funding yet. (In other words, slim chances for me.)

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But we chatted...truly chatted. She knows I am housebound with a companion cat (no problem-just need a form filled out) and want to move because this complex was on the local news for being filthy and run down. That I don't plan to ever move again so this is IT for me. She knows I want an apartment with den (because I truly am here 95% of the time and if I had an art and craft room I could actually have a living room and my place would look like a real home), but only am allotted a certain maximum amount. She told me--yes, the more expensive ones are on the third floor with the vaulted ceilings. She even voluntarily looked up the price for a one-bedroom with den on second floor (yup, I had already told her about wanting second floor) and I am golden price-wise for the one-bedroom with den! I even asked her if she knew which directions the buildings would be facing and she said she thought they were all east-west--so east would be perfect (that's what I face now!!). I explained that to get my one-bedroom with den facing east on second floor I would gladly wait a year or two for the next buildings--because this is IT for me.

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Before we parted she told me that she had written my name and number on a post-it note and stuck it on her computer!! And that she would call me back in a couple of weeks when she knew more!! :):) I was soooooo happy when I got off the phone!! At least I have connected with somebody that matters. I am a person to her and not just a piece of paper. She knows how deeply, deeply grateful I would be...

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Hope is a marvelous thing!!

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All your prayers and good wishes and positive thinking and picturing Karma and I in our new apartment with den on second floor facing east (LOL!)...I can feel it is opening doors! My new worker at federal housing is a young woman who is in a hurry and doesn't want to take any extra time for anything--not that she isn't good at her job, but you maybe know what I mean. I knew I wasn't going to have Ashley to do any extra nudging, shall we say. But if Ashley wasn't who she was...well, she wouldn't have bumped me up to the right person. So you never know who might be a blessing in your life. ;)

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All those years ago when Dagan and I got in twice into new developments when everybody said odds were stacked against us...I had people praying and wishing for us...and both times I quite randomly connected with somebody up the line who really counted...with some influence. Back then I also had already been getting ready to move and gotten floor plans...so that when I talked to them I was specific about which apartment I dearly wanted. I got the floor plan and the direction I wanted to face both times and in one I even got to pick out the carpeting! After I talked with this kind woman on Tuesday I had intense deja vu...like I was being helped along to meet the right people and doors were being opened again, you know? I was dancing around the apartment and freaking out Karma!

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Now, I realize this doesn't mean anything. That until I am told that I am actually able to move and which one-bedroom and what direction and which floor...IF I can get in at all...this is all hope and prayer and dreams. But I am still dancing!! I am still dancing!! :):)

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Just thought you'd like updates. ;)

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A couple days ago we had some blue skies with scattered clouds.

I took some pics from the porch because I so seldom do that...

...and--if I am really, really lucky--I won't have this porch more than another year or two. ;)

I've been telling Miss Karma that she will be living someplace else one day...but it goes in one ear and out the other.

I don't think she can imagine another channel on her Cat TV--LOL!

Or workers not discussing clients in the hallway and doors not chiming when they open and close across the hall.

The thing I keep thinking about is being able to go down to the community room or the library! Furniture! People I could chat with! I think they will even have an activity director. How totally different that would be?!

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Anyways, sorry...I can't help but talk about it. I think about it a lot...every day. I am so grateful to everyone who has sent any positive energy, thought, or prayer our way. It sure feels like it is working! :)

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Yesterday we had a gray blanketed sky and some rain.

This morning we had fog under a similar sky and expect more drizzle. It's 70 degrees right now with 83% humidity. Supposed to get up near 80. I think I am going to have to close up if I am going to be able to get anything done on the diaper tote today. The dampness has me lurching about like Quasimodo!

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Karma stiffly hobbles, also, when she wakes up from her myriad of naps. We are quite the pair!

Oh, I had to laugh! Remember how I complained to Netflix about them dropping selections on streaming and only giving a week's notice--especially when it is a series? Well, for the very first time I got a month's advance notice for them dropping a series. Trouble is they dropped ten of the series I had listed in my streaming queue--ROFL! Well, I may get to watch one or two of the shorter ones. I guess they're trying, eh?

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Well, that's it from Fargo today. I am off to spend another day puttering away and day dreaming. ;)

Keep smiling!!

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“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Haven't been feeling very well, so this will be brief...and I never even got a shot of my coffee mug for T Stands For Tuesday but I'm here.

I did get some cloud pics, though.

Have had some great cloud days.

It has become cool and damp. In fact yesterday with the wind it got chilly enough to close the living room windows.

We're supposed to be in the 70s during the day and 50s at night for a while, which is perfect for me...except that the humidity is staying higher than the temperature. Bone-achin' all over. Oh well. Too dang beautiful out to complain.

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Not much happening here when I'm feeling poorly. We had a firetruck and later I saw an ambulance leaving, too. People moving out. Occasional light rain and a good thunderstorm. (I do love a flashy, loud thunderstorm.)

Karma takes it all in stride.

When it was so chilly yesterday I put her new favorite cardboard box out on the porch and she happily snoozed inside all afternoon...a treat she may repeat today--LOL!

While I am waiting out this fibro flare...I've finished watching Boardwalk Empire, am back to watching The Killing, and Leah and I have been emailing back and forth about the diaper tote I am going to make for her. Since I haven't used my sewing machine for much more than repairs or alterations for decades, I have to do some dead serious thinking and planning this project through first before I start cutting the fabric. ;)

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Oh-Oh! The smaller desk I wanted went on sale at Office Max!! Dagan and Leah are going to order it for me so I can get it before the sale ends on the 30th (save $70.00!!) and I can pay them back! Whoohoo!! So, won't be long and I'll have a big box in my apartment waiting for my old huge desk to be emptied & taken apart some time in September and given away on freecycle. I am excited to be making changes and downsizing. Feels really good! :):)

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But for right now...smokin' brain cells on how to make the diaper tote, glad it's not windy or raining so I can have the whole place opened up today, Karma's catching the last morning rays, a group of loud boys are in the parking lot trying to learn how to skateboard, and I am sipping on my coffee. ;)

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Happy Tuesday!! :):)

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"Any human who feels that he or she is not 'good enough' to cultivate peace and generosity is overlooking the wondrous gift of life. You live, therefore you are good enough."

Saturday, August 23, 2014

I went over to visit McFamily on Wednesday. While Ian slept Leah and I finished cutting out all the furniture (and some future furniture) paper representatives and played around with floor plans. There's no comparison to the one with den--OMG! I could really have an art and craft room!

It would be similar to how I live now with the regular one-bedroom. I'd even have to put a couple of bookcases in the pantry--LOL!

No matter what--the curio cabinet was another piece of furniture I wondered about getting rid of and there was never extra space for it, so that will go, too. Amazingly I would have room for the triple dresser in the bedroom in either. Bigger bedroom. But there's less actual wall space elsewhere because here I have the half wall between the kitchen and the living room and have a hallway and an entryway. But with the den...ahhh! Perfection!!

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Now I can really visualize! Miss Karma would have her fancy cat box under the bedroom window. I would fix her up a place to lounge right on top of it where she could (hopefully) see out the window. Of course, sliding glass doors to the balcony would give her a good view, too. And I guesstimated the size of a loveseat with a recliner built in so that (besides Karma) a little grandboy could come up and sit right next to me. Wouldn't that be nice?

And now (gift from somebody Dagan works with) he gets propped up on this colorful mat to do some belly time.

That triangular thing there has a mirror on it!

Ian does pretty well lifting that big, heavy head of his for a while.

Can watch the other baby. What fun!

But exhausting fun. That head is a lot of work to heft about...

...so he chews and sucks on the bracelet-type toys on his wrists. (I've never seen those before--cool!)

Meanwhile, at home...Karma was catching a few rays one morning when we actually had some. (Been clouded over half the time.) I called her name...

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What do you want? Oh, just the camera? Not treats? Or anything even remotely interesting to me?

Geez! I'm trying to take a nap here.

Leah's going to cut Dagan's hair tonight so I plan to make a trip over so she can trim mine, too, at the same time. I plan to put up the lift chair on freecycle this weekend. I started going through all the files already. Been watching Boardwalk Empire. Expect more episodes in the mail today. It's a grey, blanketed, dark day. Rained during the night and we expect more light rain...in fact, could be drizzling now. The humidity is higher than the temperature. Perfect day to putter inside. ;)

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Enjoy your weekend!!

Don't forget to dream big!

:):)

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"May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder."

If I painted this in an art class the teacher would say: "Well now, this doesn't look realistic at all. Clouds don't look like that...almost black against white all helter skelter like that. Try again." LOL!

Sweaty hot...Karma likes to snooze out on the porch while I stay inside where it's cooler.

I had such a happy accident! Remember I bought this Heat-n-Bond at JoAnn's?

Well, I've never used it before and can't read the fine print without a magnifier, right? Well, this stuff has a paper liner because it is sticky on both sides! Made to attach things to each other and not an interfacing at all! Can't tell I haven't been sewing for over 25 years--ROFL! (But how much easier will this be to add a decal to a little boy's clothes than stitching them on by hand, eh?)

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So, I thought on this for a while. Remember I had lightly lined some of the ultra suede I had purchased quite a while back to prep it for book covers? Well, I experimented on the small red leather cover first...and forgot to take pictures, but here it is before I trimmed off the excess ultrasuede.

It worked great! So I did the same with the larger red leather cover with more of the cream ultrasuede. :) First I ironed on a strip from the Heat-n-Bond roll right down the spine for extra support--paper side up.

Then I cut a hunk of the Heat-n-Bond sheet a little larger than the red cover piece and ironed it on to the ultrasuede--paper side up.

Removed both the papers, ironed them together (on top of a non-stick surface), trimmed off the excess fabric with the dangerous circular cutter and my big heavy ruler...and snipped out the indentation bits from the top and bottom of the spine. Voila!

I love them now!!

The spines don't crush down like they did with all the bands holding in the removable little notebooks...

...and the inside covers are...ultrasuede!

I'm already using the smaller one that fits in my purse so well.

Can't tell how much I love my red leather and suede fauxdoris? LOL!

The inside of the covers are so soft! What a totally happy accident, eh?!

I went over to visit McFamily for a short bit on Sunday. Daddy was watching Ian...and golf...

...and giving Sammy some attention.

(Can't forget our four-legged babes.)

While Leah and I worked on measuring and cutting out pieces of cardstock approximately the size of my various pieces of furniture so we can play around with the floor plan of my future home. (Talk about positive visualization, eh?!) Leah's done this before so she did the measuring and I did the cutting and labeling.

Ian is awake for playtime more these days.

He thinks about grabbing the toys and waves his arms about to bat at them but hasn't figured out the grasping thing yet. Will happen in no time at all. Seems like you blink and they've learned something new.

Quite a little milk belly--LOL!

Happy little guy doing his arm and leg exercises. ;)

They were heading out to have pizza with friends (who also have little ones). We hadn't finished with the "furniture" so I left it all there on Sunday. Hoping to make it back over in the next couple days. Note the small fauxdori on the table there is where I wrote down all the measurements. (Could hardly wait to use it, of course.) And I even brought my trusty thermal mug with me that day, too--for all you folks at T Stands For Tuesday over at Elizabeth's. :)

Oh, and the one pattern I wanted to buy at Joann's they were out of. Found it on eBay for $5.81 (some wanted $12.99) and it arrived post haste in brand new condition. Gramma wants to make toddler Ian a pair of overalls...maybe with a decal--LOL! I made so many for Dagan when he was little. This pattern goes up to size three, thank goodness. We know how slow this Gramma operates. ;)

In the spirit of purging and downsizing...I am going to give away my big L-shaped desk and hutch.

I really don't need this big of a desk anymore. It was a blessing when I was in college till 2004, but ever since Dagan hauled off my last desk computer that died I don't use it for hours and hours every day like I used to. I do most of my writing now sitting by the window at my table. I plan to buy another inexpensive desk, but regular sized with a hutch and a file drawer...will take up half the space. My file cabinet next to the desk is falling apart and will go, too. I bought them together and on sale back in 2000. Just pressboard--but they have served me well.

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And, sadly, I am going to give away the tiny lift chair, too.

I feel badly that after all the trouble Dagan and Leah went through to pick this up from somebody (freecycle) I haven't been able to use it because it is so very small that my feet hang over the edge of the footrest--at the ankles! And I am only a little over 5'1"!! But that is an absolutely horrible position for your feet to be in if you have plantar fasciitis! Causes pain and limping. So, I am giving this away, too.

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I have Dagan and Leah checking with their friends/coworkers and Caroline will check around, too. Caroline has a better chance of maybe knowing a client who could use them, but regardless...they will eventually be gone. I give them all first chance, but will put them up on freecycle if nobody they know wants them. I just sent them all pictures to be able to show people. Hey--I was serious when I said I was going to start downsizing. ;)

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Caroline comes this afternoon. It's been in the 80s with the humidity at 70-80%, so been closed up night and day. I got caught up watching Wallander with Kenneth Branagh on NS (netflix streaming) and now, of course, started watching the Swedish version of Wallander with Krister Henriksson. (So far, Kenneth wins on brooding angst.) Since with the Swedish version I have to be in the mood for subtitles, I've been switching off with The Killing. Is it any wonder I need to watch a couple Big Bang reruns before I go to bed--LOL!

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I should be reading! I have library books I haven't even cracked open. Shame on me.